Prince Harry hailed the “unique” relationship between Ireland and the UK when he spoke to guests at a garden party at the British ambassador’s residence in south Dublin on Tuesday night.

In his only public remarks on a two-day visit - the first with his wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, since their May wedding - the Prince struck both a serious and humorous tone in his four-minute speech to guests on a sun-drenched lawn of the Glencairn residence in Sandyford.

Prince Harry opened his remarks with a few words in Irish, addressing the Tánaiste Simon Coveney, the British ambassador Robin Barnett and “a Dhaoine Uaisle,” following up quickly with: “Did I get that right?”

He did. Guests cheered in response.

“There are more rugby people than we originally thought,” the Duke joked in reply at the raucous cheer.

The couple land at Dublin Airport (Image: PA)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave Government Buildings following a meeting with Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar

He thanked everyone for the “warm welcome we’ve received since being in this beautiful country” and he the Tánaiste for showing his father Prince Charles around Cork on his visit last month.

“And it was also very nice to know that we he didn’t bore you senseless,” he added of his father.

Prince Harry, sharing the podium with the Duchess, the Tánaiste and the Ambassador, said his father and grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, had spoken warmly with him of the visits they enjoyed here in Ireland.

“Standing here with you on this beautiful evening, it is easy to see why Ireland has such a special place in the hearts of my family and indeed, all those who come here,” he said.

He and his wife were “so pleased” to make Ireland their “first international visit together as a married couple” and hoped that it would be “the first of many,” he said.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their wedding day in May (Image: Getty Images Europe)

“As each other’s closest neighbours, the UK and Ireland’s relationship is unique; our shared history is long and complex. There have of course been challenging and at times tragic period of that relationship.”

He closed with President Michael D Higgins’s remarks on his visit to the UK in 2014: “We live in each other’s shadows; we shield each other, and rely on each other for shelter.”

Prince Harry said that sentiment was “as apt now as it was then, as we draw strength from one another as neighbours, partners and above all friends.”

He finished his remarks by toasting the President and the people of Ireland.

The Duke, wearing a navy suit, and the Duchess, in a black knee-length cocktail dress designed by New Zealander Emilia Wickstead, chatted with guests that included former president Mary Robinson, former taoiseach Enda Kenny and members of the Cabinet including Simon Harris and Josepha Madigan.

Among the guests that included celebrities from the world of sports and the arts assembled in “pods” on the lawn of the ambassador’s residence, the possibility of England winning the World Cup was an icebreaker in conversations with the Royal visitors.

Former Leinster and Ireland rugby player Brian O’Driscoll said he asked the Duke: “Is it coming home?” referring to whether England would win.

“He didn’t jumped at me immediately saying yes it was so I am thinking there is either humility or he is not sure whether he is coming home or not,” said O’Driscoll.

Actor and author Amy Huberman told the Duke that she attended the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton on her own as O’Driscoll could not fulfill the invite as he was playing for Leinster at the time.

When a fellow pod member pointed out her attendance at “the Royal wedding,” Huberman was keen to point out to him she had not “gatecrashed” his recent wedding; it was his brother’s she attended, not his.

“I went to the last one on his own. Brian and I had both been invited. They had ended up going into the Heineken Cup Semi Finals so he couldn’t go.

(Image: Rex)

“He was like, ‘you should go.’ So I did on my own. I was terrified. I would rather go and be terrified than regret not going,” she said.

She referred to her husband’s circle on the greeting line as the “Bod pod.”

Comedian Aisling Bea said she had “a slight maybe more irreverent chat” with the Duke, trying to convince him that their pod of women were “the Irish Little Mix” and that when he looked “really sad” that four women of their age were representing Ireland as a pop group, she had to reveal that they were joking.

“We made some jokes about putting Copper Face Jacks into the next speech he does,” she said. “He was so sweet and clearly a very funny and sweet guy and that came across in our chats.”

Meghan at the Invictus Games 2017 (Image: Getty)

Vicky Phelan, the Limerick woman who exposed the controversy around the CervicalCheck screening programme, said she was gobsmacked when the Duchess told her she had heard of her story.

“She said: ‘I have been following your story; you have been doing some great stuff,” said a dumbfounded Phelan.

Actor Barry Keoghan said he met Prince Harry at the UK premiere of Dunkirk, the movie he starred in and was pleased to meet him again on home turf in Dublin.

“He’s cool, yeah. It was nice,” he said. “At the Dunkirk premiere it was a bit more serious with veterans there. With this, he stood and had his chat with us.”

Introducing the Duke, Mr Coveney welcomed that “the new generation of the British Royal Family” were continuing to “nourish” Anglo-Irish ties as “the countries seek to navigate a shared and difficult history”.

Remarking on England’s success in the World Cup, Mr Coveney said that it was the “first time I can remember that there are probably as many people cheering for England as against England,” though there was a hesitant and muted round of applause when he said he would like to see England win the World Cup.